Political
Aide Cut From Job With Lottery Vendor
A political aide to House
Speaker Jim Black is no longer working with
a gambling company that may be interested in
becoming a vendor for the new North Carolina
lottery.
Scientific Games Corp. hired Meredith
Norris earlier this year to monitor legislation
related to the lottery, which Black pushed hard
for passage. Norris said the company fired her
after her position was made public two weeks
ago.
Company officials "don't like negative
publicity," she said.
Norris is a former legislative aide to Black
who continues to help him politically by organizing
fund-raisers and other campaign events.
Her employment was not disclosed during the
legislative session because she said her role
monitoring legislation did not involve lobbying
Black or other lawmakers on the lottery.
Lobbyists and their clients must register with
the state if the work involves influencing lawmakers.
Alan Middleton, vice president of governmental
relations at Scientific Games, said budget cuts
prompted Norris' dismissal.
"It's not been a pleasant thing to do,"
he said.
Gov. Mike Easley signed the lottery bill into
law on Aug. 31. Easley, Black, D-Mecklenburg,
and Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, named
their nine appointments to the new North Carolina
State Lottery Commission last week.
One of the members, Kevin Geddings of Charlotte,
is a friend of Middleton. Geddings led a pro-lottery
campaign in South Carolina before a 2000 referendum
that allowed creation of a lottery there.
The owner of public relations firm, Geddings
has said he once performed some focus-group
research for a company, portions of which are
now part of Scientific Games.
Geddings said last week he has no ongoing financial
relationship with lottery vendors. He also said
there's nothing in his business work that will
make him favor one company over another.
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